A prayer for our earth

“At the conclusion of this lengthy reflection which has been both joyful and troubling, I propose that we offer two prayers. The first we can share with all who believe in a God who is the all-powerful Creator, while in the other we Christians ask for inspiration to take up the commitment to creation set before us by the Gospel of Jesus.”Quote from page 178 in Pope Francis’ encyclical letter ‘Laudato Si – Of The Holy Father Francis On Care For Our Common Home’

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God,
you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned
and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty,
not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.

Rewriting ‘The Australian Dream’

The word ‘sustainability’ has almost become synonymous the bussiness of shifting over from the polluting burning of coal, gas and oil to clean, renewable energy sources – and with saving energy by changing light bulbs, retrofitting houses, and so on. All the practical stuff.

It has to do with moral sensibility and our capacity to build a stronger connection with our neighbours, the community, all living beings and plants on this planet, life, even with the Universe itself. A spiritual connection, according to Peter Martin.

A movement has started which aims to entirely rewrite ‘The Australian Dream’ – as well as, depending on which country you live in, ‘The American Dream’, ‘The Danish Dream’, and so on. The new ‘Dream’ replaces the old goals and values of growth, financial success, increased consumption, accumulating stuff and an ever-rising ‘standard of living’ with a much more simplistic value of quality of life, development measured as ‘Gross National Happiness’ instead of the conventional Gross National Product, and which meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.

From ‘the head’ to ‘the heart’In The Sustainable Hour on 5 August 2015, Revd Peter Martin, vicar of the co-operating Anglican parishes of St George the Martyr, Queenscliff and St James, Point Lonsdale in the Diocese of Melbourne, shares with us his vision about entirely rewriting ‘The Australian Dream’ – changing our consciousness, values and what we aim for. A journey from living our lives predominantly in ‘the head’ to living in and from ‘the heart’ – without leaving the mind behind.

During the 1970s, the Anglican Franciscans, by the example of their own practice, introduced Peter Martin to the mystical traditions of the church. These living traditions have sustained him over the decades, and for 10 years, from 1984 to 1994, he was a member of the monastic community of Tarrawarra in the Yarra Valley.

He spent 15 years in parish ministry and six years as Senior Anglican Prison Chaplain leading a state wide team of 13 Chaplains.

Peter Martin’s lifelong association with traditions of spiritual practice within other faiths has led to greater involvement in the inter-faith scene. Peter Martin was a founding member of the Geelong Interfaith Network in 2003 of which he is still an active member.

Playing with fire
As the weather gets weirder, and temperature records crash, anxiety is seeping into our species’ collective subconscious like seawater. Even if we don’t know all of the details, we know that something is very wrong. We are playing with fire. Because we are not listening to what the scientists are telling us.

We know we have to stop polluting the air. But we are not doing it. We are not stopping. On the contrary, as the matter of fact, we pollute more and more every year. A few years ago we spewed 30 billion tons out every year. Now we are close to 40 billion tons a year. And rising.

We know that infinite economic growth on a finite planet is not possible. Yet, year after year, we keep basing our entire political and economical system on that growth will continue for ever.

The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Scale that to 46 years. If they Earth is 46 years old, it means we, humans, have been here for four hours. Our industrial revolution began one minute ago. In that time, we have managed to destroy more than half of the world’s forests.

‘Seven sins’
90 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi – the visionary and wise Indian leader – said that seven things will destroy us. He published a list of those things in his weekly newspaper Young India in October 1925.

Here is Gandhi’s list of seven sins:

Wealth without work– the economic system based on growth, loans, stocks and shares

Pleasure without conscience
– that’s everyone of us, as long as we keep ignoring the consequences of the fun we are having, spewing out carbon in the atmosphere

Knowledge without character
– that’s our leaders, and our scientists and academia, who are all well aware of the dangerous path we have taken, but don’t have the guts to speak up about it, at least not loudly enough

Commerce without morality
– every single company which doesn’t care about its environmental footprint. Luckily the list of companies that DO care about morality is getting longer

Science without humility → (Coal industry without humility?)
– scientist’s lack of humility was possibly an issue a hundred years ago, but in relation to the current environmental crisis it is not. Rather, “Science without authority” and “Science without respect” seems to be the issue. Or: “Fossil fuel industry without humility”.

Worship without sacrifice
– If we go by both Gandhi’s and Pope Francis’ standards, then the prime minister of Australia is one of the biggest sinners in this entire nation. The Australian prime minister Tony Abbott claims to be a catholic, but has shown absolute disrespect for Pope Francis’ new teaching letter, The Encyclical, or for making any spiritual sacrifice in order to clear the air and clean up our mess.

Politics without principle
– is everywhere around us. Sinners the entire bunch, even the State Government of Victoria which claims to be on the right side of history as far as climate change is concerned, but even so gives new permissions to explore for more coal in Gippsland and wants to hear the fracking-industry out with an inquiry, instead of simply banning this toxic and sinful industry on the spot.

Calls for a civilisational transformation
We can’t continue like this. People are saying this in large numbers all over the planet. In South America they have the >Buen Vivir movement, in India they talk about the Ecological Swaraj – in South Africa they have the Eco-Ubuntu movement – in Europe, there is the Transition Network movement, and since June, now also Pope Francis’ Encyclical – all are calling for a new paradigm and for a civilisational transformation.

A change of consciousness. This is what we want to talk about in The Sustainable Hour today.

Our current political climate is not advancing this new kind of consciousness at all. They are blocking it while the social, technological, economical, environmental and · as Peter Martin shows us in The Sustainable Hour today – even spiritual dimensions warrant it.

All of these dimensions are not created equal. The political sphere is far the largest in our society. This is where the important decisions are being made about huge sums of money.

Decision making, advocacy, participation, activism, law, policy, debate around ethics and values, democracy, structures of power, and interventions. All of that needs to change.

We end The Sustainable Hour as we started out: with quoting the Indian leader of wisdom, Gandhi, who gave us the recipe as to how we can create a peaceful revolution in our society. Like Michael Jackson sang, take a look in the mirror and launch the process: Be the change.

Important events in November

Planning has started for a very large People’s Climate March in Melbourne on either 28 or 29 November 2015, and a special weekend-event in Geelong the week before, as a lead-up to it – an outdoor celebration of renewables and the 100th Sustainable Hour. » See PDF.

Support Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s call for 100% renewables by 2050

Archbishop Desmond Tutu started this petition in the end of July. Three weeks later it had been signed by 223,000 supporters.
Desmond Tutu wrote in his letter to Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, and Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon:

“Climate change is one of the greatest moral challenges of our time. It threatens the health of our planet and people; especially the poorest and most vulnerable. It threatens our children’s future and everything we hold dear. It is time for all of us to wake up and take action together — in our local communities, nationally and globally, as well as in our daily lives.

As citizens motivated by faith and other moral traditions, we recognize that there is a grave obligation to act on climate change.

We call on you as leaders to respond urgently to the threats of climate change and set a renewable energy target of 100% by 2050. We need bold action like this to keep global temperature rise below the unacceptably dangerous tipping point of two degrees, to phase out carbon pollution to zero, and to invest resources in sustainable development pathways to build a more flourishing, inclusive and balanced world.

We pledge to do our own part by embracing the moral responsibility to care for our world and for each other and by seeking to live better and more sustainable lives in greater joy and harmony.

Quotes, excerpts and links

…in relation to the 84th Sustainable Hour

12 AUGUST 2015:

‘Unity’ premiere – a global cinema event

‘Unity’ is the title of a new film which is coming to Geelong next Wednesday – for its world premiere – and it is a film which aims high: It wants us to make the connection between us humans and the animals, the trees, the plants – and to put our lives, and life on Earth, in the perspective of the entire universe.

It does that with the help of 100 hollywood stars and celebrities and artists, including a few Australian ones, like Geoffrey Rush.

The Sustainable Hour’s interview with Shaun Monson
The film was written and directed by Shaun Monson, who also was the maker of ‘Earthlings’. We called him in the US and he told us about the challenges and the obstacles he faced during the five years this film has been in the making:

Geelong Village Cinemas screening of ‘Unity’
• Wednesday 12 August at 7pm
• Sunday 16 August at 4pm
» Order tickets on www.villagecinemas.com.au

Shaun Monson explains about the film ‘Unity’. Published on youtube.com on 22 April 2015

Trailer from February 2015 [9:48 min]

Trailer from 2012 [5:20 min]

‘Unity’ is a new film from the writer and director of ‘Earthlings’, Shaun Monson. The film will challenge audiences, it forces us to hold a mirror up to humanity. It is a film that even the strongest of viewers will walk away from with questions, emotions (some good, some bad) and perhaps a broader view on the world.

It is a documentary about why we can’t seem to get along with each other, even after thousands and thousands of years.

Seven years in the making, ‘Unity’ explores humanity’s hopeful transformation from living by killing into living by loving. It is a unique film about compassion for all beings, or all “expressions of life,” and going beyond all “separation based on form,” and beyond perceiving opposites.

Writer and director Shaun Monson presents a message of love, tragedy and hope, all set against the backdrop of some of the most compelling 20th and 21st century footage imaginable.

What it means to be human
Presented in chapters, ‘Unity’ takes an in-depth look at what it truly means to be human, to be mortal, and to be incarnate in this world.

The film explores our brief existence among the Cosmos (Chapter I), then moves on to the perceptions of our Mind (Chapter II), the nature of our Body (Chapter III), the infinite capacity of our Heart (Chapter IV), and ultimately to the mysterious energy of the Soul (Chapter V).

Initially, these chapters will appear unrelated to each other. But as the film progresses it becomes clear that all life is interconnected, and each chapter represents the totality of our mortal experience, which is only measured in decades.

Building a better tomorrow

POC21 Trailer: “The World We Need”

Starting 15 August 2015, POC21 innovation camp will bring together 100+ makers, designers and social innovators to join forces at Millemont Castle near Paris. During five weeks of co-making and co-living, their goal is to prototype a new breed of open-source, sustainable products.

Ahead of the UN climate summit COP21, organizers OuiShare (Paris) and Open State (Berlin) want to deliver the proof of concept that a fossil-free, resource-efficient society can be build by citizen pioneers. Participants will embrace an unique creative process complete with mentoring sessions, work sprints, reality checks, campfire chats and more. The mission of POC21 is to inspire an action culture of makers that replace mass consumerism and to make open-source, sustainable products the new normal.

How we can all become responsible stewards of Planet Earth

We recommend that you spend a quarter of an hour watching this inspirational TED-presentation by Johan Rockström:

Johan Rockström’s presentation at TEDGlobal in Edinburgh in 2013. Published onVimeo

With more “Johan Rockströms” around the planet stepping up to the challenge, we could be opening a door to that global mindshift and move towards an Ecological Age which also Peter Martin, Pope Francis and numerous others are suggesting.

“One common approach to the seemingly inevitable onslaught of climate change impact is to, well, bury our heads in the sand and pretend that everything will be just fine. Here’s the thing: things *can* be just fine, says environmental scientist Johan Rockström. But we have to take action. In this fast-paced, passionate talk, he zips through both threats and potential solutions to the current global environmental situation, and describes how we can peacefully transform to living on a truly resilient planet.”Johan Rockström

Changing the Dream Symposium

‘Can we be at peace with the world we have?’
Sunday 9 August 2015 at 10am to 4pm in Alphington

Organiser: Triple Ecology Collective

“We’re doing this because we believe that, even though there are many people doing great things in the sustainability realm, there is an underlying sense of outrage, even anger that, despite their best efforts, the World we want is not emerging fast enough to save our civilization. Many in the movement are feeling burnt out or disillusioned, this workshop is designed to help us be the finest, most noble expressions of who we can be in the World we have right now. To witness the unfolding, however it looks and to play our part as selflessly as we can without attachment to any particular result.”

The Symposium is not about beliefs, it’s not about answers. The invitation is to neither believe nor disbelieve what is presented, but for participants to engage in their own dialectic about the matters raised.

The modern Industrial world was created by hard working, well meaning people such as Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and America’s greatest industrialist, George Westinghouse. Their intentions were largely compassionate, as they sought to improve the lives of ordinary people.

What followed from their actions were unintended consequences which were unforeseeable and ultimately global in their effects. Half of the world’s fauna have lost their habitat in the last fifty years, ninety percent of ancient forests are gone, ninety percent of large fish are gone from the oceans; two world wars, creating mass destruction were made possible by industrial scale production. How is this not a tragedy?

Many people are now hurt, lonely, despairing, and fearful. During this event, we aim to create a space of loving presence where people can expand their understanding of how we arrived at the world we have.

This includes an opportunity to share our grief, our despair and our fears about the future; to perhaps recognise the possibility of transmuting painful emotions and fear.

In a safe space, the restoration of the memory of oneness becomes possible. Access to the memory of oneness enables us to mindfully bear witness to the play of Humanity. This creates the possibility of clear thought, open heartedness, effective right action, personal hope and empowerment. As a part of a community of trust, we can create the finest expression of who we can be – for ourselves, our families and our communities.

The Five on Five Challenge for Creation

World leaders will meet in the U.N. Climate Summit at Paris in late November 2015, to sign a treaty to tackle climate change. After decades of failed negotiations, we need to increase the pressure on our governments for them to be more ambitious to solve the climate crisis.

Pope Francis endorsed this petition and is ready for climate action. What about you?

Help amplify the Catholic voice on climate change next week by taking the Five on Five Challenge!

WHAT IS IT?
On AUGUST 5, reach out to 5 people to sign the Catholic Climate Petition either online or in person.

If you get 5 people to sign the petition, let us know and we’ll include your name on the “Five on Five Challenge Page” and send you a link to a special thank you video message.

THE GOAL
If everyone in our networks reaches out to 5 new people, we can bring in 50,000 more signatures to present to world leaders at November’s UN climate summit.

SOUNDS GREAT, HOW DO I DO IT?
• Before August 5 IDENTIFY 5-10 people to reach out to sign the Catholic Climate Petition (always good to shoot a little higher).
• Figure out HOW you are going to contact them. Will it be through text, email, or a Facebook message?
• DEVELOP your message. You can share our Facebook banner of the day, use one of the sample messages found here, or make up your own.
• On Wednesday, August 5, PRAY AND THEN CONTACT your people! Send out your initial ask, and then later on in the day FOLLOW UP with a personal text or phone call.
• Once you get 5 people to sign the petition, let us know by clicking here. We will add you to our “Five on Five” webpage which you can share with your friends and family. We’ll also send you a link to a special thank you video from our team. The best prize, however, is the satisfaction of acting in solidarity with communities around the globe on climate justice.
• Want to go bigger? Invite 5 of your friends before August 5 to join you in the 5 on 5 challenge

Spread the word by pasting the link below on Facebook, Twitter or other networks: http://bit.ly/1ClacEm

The Global Catholic Climate Movement just celebrated their first six months. They say they are amazed at how Catholics around the globe are responding to the Pope’s call to care for creation.

The Philippine Church has declared they will mobilize 10 million signatures to take action on climate change.

The National Conference of Bishops in Brazil just came on board and are ready to mobilize one million signatures.

And Cardinal Turkson, president of the Pontirical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican, recently endorsed the Catholic Climate Petition during the Second World Meeting of Popular Movements in Bolivia.

In four months, our world leaders will be gathering in Paris for the COP 21 climate summit. This is the last opportunity to create a legally binding global agreement to slow down climate disruption. And with 2014 recently declared as the hottest in modern record, we need to act fast.

1. Amplifying the Catholic Climate Petition with a new youth petition and other efforts globally;

2. Celebrating a Season of Creation from 1 September to 4 October 2015 through prayer, study, and action around care for creation;

3. Bolstering the Catholic Climate Resource Center to provide an online hub about climate change from a Catholic perspective;

4. Launching a Pray for Paris prayer chain to pray courage for our global leaders and an ecological conversion for us all;

5. Mobilising Catholics to join the global 2015 People’s Climate March before the COP21 Climate Summit in November.

As Pope Francis recently stated, “People and their movements are called to cry out, to mobilize and to demand – peacefully, but firmly – that appropriate and urgently-needed measures be taken. I ask you, in the name of God, to defend Mother Earth.”

The Moral Mobilization

“Pope Francis’ visit to the United States promises to be one of the most spectacular political moments of this century. As TCM Director Margaret Klein Salamon recently said, “This Pope addressing this Congress? It’s like a dream.”

But if we are going to save civilization, we cannot sleepwalk through this turning point in history. We must stand with the Pope, and let Congress know that a WWII-scale Climate Mobilization is the best way to respond to the Pope’s call for an “ecological conversion.”

That is precisely the mission of The Moral Mobilization, a week of public Pledge-signing demonstrations held across America following the Pope’s visit, Sept. 28 – Oct. 4. Civic and spiritual leaders will read from the Pope’s Encyclical and sign the Pledge to Mobilize in front of Congressional offices and federal buildings, demanding a WWII-scale “ecological conversion” NOW!

We must face the facts of what scientists report is happening to the planet we live on, and how we, the seven billion humans (and counting), are playing with fire.

We must accept the reality that economic growth based on the exploitation of finite resources and destruction of our planet’s ecosystem is becoming a threat to our own wellbeing and safety – and that to millions of people it will soon even become a threat to their survival. It is time to clear the air, literally, and start that transformation of our economy to one which is ‘circular’.

We must re-build our communities, our infrastructure and systems to something which is sustainable with a long-term perspective.

Saying goodbye to the economic growth-model is at the same time saying hello to creating new jobs and building communities where moral sensibility and conscience is cultivated, and where fear, isolation, woundedness and hatred can be replaced with a sense of unity and togetherness.

We have that option. It is up to us, if only we start making the right decisions now, advocating for that change of consciousness. Join us in supporting this important cause.

Ask yourself: Are you interested in hosting an event in your town or city?

Spread the news about The Moral Mobilization far and wide! Post a link to www.MoralMobilization.org on Facebook, and forward this email to your networks. These events can have a huge impact and push our country closer to a Climate Mobilization – but we need your help & hard work.

Sign The Fuji Declaration

In the same spirit as Pope Francis’ encyclical, The Fuji Declaration is a charter for a new spiritual civilisation for a sustainable future.

The declaration is an international alliance of individuals and organisations who are united by a shared commitment to advance a more harmonious, compassionate and sustainable era for all humanity.

“A new chapter in the story of humanity is within reach. Imagine a world where the human spirit is freed for deep creativity. Imagine new paradigms forged within all spheres of human activity, setting the stage for a thriving and sustainable future. Please join us in setting this intention and help us promote a global consciousness where all life – in all its diversity – is felt and understood as one.”

The Fuji Declaration, “igniting the divine spark for a thriving world,” has been endorsed by global citizens and pioneers from many different backgrounds, people from different faiths and cultures, including heads-of-state, Nobel laureates, scientists, artists, authors, teachers and world peace advocates from the world over.

“At a critical time—a time of crisis and unsustainability—change is not linear but abrupt. We live in a critical time. The system we have created either breaks down to chaos, or breaks through to a new order. The breakthrough will not come from above, it will not occur at the center, and it will not be driven by money and power. It will come at the grassroots, at the creative periphery, and it will be motivated by the divine spark present in the heart and mind of every human being.”
~ Ervin Laszlo

“This Declaration has been endorsed by hundreds of insightful and eminent individuals and organisations in all parts of the world. It is open to enlightened and ethical individuals and organisations wherever they live and in whatever domain of activity they are engaged so long as they endorse its call to return to the wholeness that characterises life on Earth and has hallmarked healthy and sustainable civilisations throughout history.”

If you yearn for a more compassionate and sustainable world, if you resonate with the vision of The Fuji Declaration, or if you just want to share your inspiration with others, this is your moment!

The Green Pledge

Want to help Friends of the Earth tackle climate change? From 31 August to 6 September 2015, commit to five climate actions and help raise much needed funds for Friends of the Earth’s climate campaigns.

Choose five actions from a list of 10 that can see you reduce your carbon emissions by up to 50% and create broader political change. Funds raised will help Friends of the Earth Melbourne campaign for a world powered by renewables, not dirty fossil fuels.

The hope is that this will inspire participants to continue their actions until the next Green Pledge.

G20: Quit the growth paradigme

» Sign the petition: ‘Tell the G20: infinite economic growth on a finite planet is not possible’www.ipetitions.com

“We can criticise all we want the Abbott government’s deplorable push to cut investment in wind and solar energy. But we must also bear the burden of (and act on) our own individual unsustainable energy (and food) consumption, which is among the highest in the world. Buen Vivir may be taken up in Australia as an interesting perspective in other ways too. First, as a way to engage more deeply and respectfully with Aboriginal communal ways of being. Second, as a way to take part in emergent local movements, urban and rural, pushing to build sustainable non-capitalist alternatives.” Juan Francisco Salazar, Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Communication Arts at University of Western Sydney in theconversation.com

How Australia buried the will to act on climate change

“…The story of how a deeply dysfunctional political class (both politicians and media) have betrayed our future.
Dominated by two intellectually moribund and ethically vacuous political parties, the second highest paid politicians in the world have undermined public confidence in democracy and led us into political cul-de-sacs on every major policy issue from climate change, asylum, education, health care, and Aboriginal affairs, to tax reform and the management of the nation’s finances.

The basically progressive instincts of the Australian people have been manipulated and subverted for the political interests of a tiny self-serving elite and their corporate sponsors…”

Author Maria Taylor explores how Australia went from being at the forefront of climate change action to the world laggards:

“It’s not necessarily true anymore that economic growth increases our incomes and always transforms our lives for the better. Today, some features of economic growth are increasing the incomes of the richest, stagnating the incomes of the poorest, and depleting the innovative spirit of the economy. Who has the time to worry about climate change and mass extinction when they’re just getting by or more concerned about how to cash their next pension check? Ask any Greek citizen.”James Magnus-Johnston, 28 July 2015 in What About Innovating Beyond the Growth Trap? A Challenge to the Ecofiscal Commission’s Growth Fixation

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